Skip to main content

Series Preview: Pirates at Phillies 5/16-5/17

By

The first place Phillies (23-13) return home this week to host the Pirates (16-21), who are in third place in the NL Central, five games behind the division leading Reds. The two teams will meet in a brief two game series.

Jimmy Rollins has been activated from the disabled list and Wilson Valdez, who is out of options, has been designated for assignment to make room on the roster. Rollins will see his first action at home this year. He injured calf during warm ups prior to the Phillies' home opener on April 12th. Rollins will bat third in the lineup.

The Phillies are 9-1 against the central division thus far this season. Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other key details from this series.

Monday, 7:05pm. Charlie Morton (1-6, 9.19 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (1-1, 5.89 ERA). Morton has a 4.00 ERA over his last three starts. In 2 career games against the Phils, Morton has allowed 7 earned runs in 8 innings pitched. Jimmy Rollins is 5-for-5 against Morton, with a double. Kendrick also has a 4.00 ERA over his last three starts. Kendrick is 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA in two starts against the Pirates. Ryan Church is 5-9 (.511 avg) with a homer and 4 walks against Kendrick.

Tuesday, 7:05pm. Zach Duke (2-4, 5.56 ERA) vs. Roy Halladay (6-1, 1.59 ERA). In 4 starts against the Phillies in his career, Duke is 1-3 with a 4.78 ERA. Duke won his first two starts of the season and has not won since then. Jayson Werth is 3-for-6 with a double a homer and 4 RBI against Duke. In 3 home starts this season, Halladay has posted a 3-0 record with a 1.13 ERA and a .207 batting avg. against. In 3 May starts, Halladay has a 1.21 ERA.

Andrew McCutchen is fourth in the National League with a .340 batting average. McCutchen's 5 homeruns lead the Pirates. He is batting .432 in May.

Pittsburgh closer Octavio Dotel has 7 saves and a 7.04 ERA this season. In 16 career games against the Phils, Dotel is 3-1 with a save and a 1.95 ERA.

Shane Victorino is batting .333 this month with a 1.097 OPS compared to a .226 avg. and a .650 OPS in April. Victorino, a switch hitter, is batting .357 against lefties, while posting a .237 avg. against right-handers.

In 30 games against the Pirates, Ryan Howard is a .160 hitter (16-for-100) with 3 homers and 15 RBI.

Chase Utley is expected to miss the series opener, out with flu-like symptoms.

In 52 career games against the Pirates, Jimmy Rollins is 72-for-210 (.343. avg) with 7 homers and 28 RBI. Rollins batted .259 in 79 home games last season.
---------------------------------

Be sure to follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday School: Phillies History Lesson 71

By
Gene Kelly was the radio voice of the Philadelphia Phillies from 1950- 1959. Born in Brooklyn NY, Kelly pitched in the minor leagues after graduating from Marshall College in 1941. He would soon experience arm trouble, which ended his playing days. Kelly managed to continue a career in sports by turning to radio. When legendary announcer By Saam, who pulled double duty beginning in 1939 calling both Phillies and Athletics games, moved over to the A's side exclusively, Gene Kelly was the man who would fill the void and took over as the Phillies play-by-play man. The Phillies began broadcasting their games over the air in 1936, but until the 1950's, the broadcasters only attended home games and did not travel with the team. All road games were recreated, on the air, by the announcers who read a Western Union teletype account of the games from the studio in Philadelphia. During the decade of the 50's, Kelly was partnered with several different broadcasters, including Claude Ha...
5 comments
Read more

Jealous Ones Envy

By
Joe Blanton continues to excel and prove his worth in the Phillies pitching rotation. In his latest outing on Sunday, Blanton threw 8 strong innings, striking out 6, while walking just 1 and surrendering 2 earned runs, improving his record to 7-4. This season in July, Joe is 3-0 over four starts with 22 K's, 5 walks and a 1.21 ERA. Over his last 6 starts, Joe's ERA is 1.94. As a member of the Phillies, Blanton has a 3.84 ERA after the all star break with a 5-0 record. The Phillies are 20-12 (.625 winning percentage) in games that Blanton has started, since being acquired last July. Combined this season against other National League playoff contenders St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles, Blanton has a combined 1.67 ERA in 4 starts with a 2-0 record. Blanton is on such a sizzling run that the Bowling Green Hot Rods, a Tampa Bay Rays farm team, will host a Joe Blanton bobble head give away tomorrow. Bowling Green will host Joe's mother, father and sister for the event, as Joe...
7 comments
Read more

Heroes- Fight of the Century

By
VS. It's a big day for your boy, Jay Ballz . No work, X-Men Origins: Wolverine premieres, our Phillies face the Metropolitans for the first time this season and tailgating for BOTH doesn't sound all that absurd to me. Anyway, I surveyed some qualified phans and got several opinions on how exactly a fight might go down if the mutant hero Wolverine faced off against Phillies hero Matt Stairs. Well known blogger, Chris, of I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake , kept it real and said the following- "Wolverine has adamantium ( indestructible metal substance) claws, so that's a great advantage. Stairs' Wonder Bat is neutralized there. See, the problem becomes Wolverine's ability to recover (he has a regenerative power) faster. Stairs is merely human. Sure, he has a goatee, and goatees are great, but they're great for saving sauce, not for defeating mutants. I think Wolverine takes it in a fight to the death in about 15 minutes because Stairs simply doesn'...
7 comments
Read more